Would you want a Casket Outlet in your Neighborhood Mall?

Malls are popular all over, right? We can easily find ourselves going in to pick up “just a few things” and leave, hours later, with multiple bags from a variety of stores.

Let’s see, we’ve got our face cream from Target; our cute blouse from H&M or shirt from Men’s Wearhouse; and we even stopped at the shoe repair and sat while they replaced the souls on the shoes we were wearing.

It doesn’t matter how many malls you’ve been to, or what it is that you did there, because chances are, you couldn’t walk right next door and buy a casket.

Now, thanks to Forest Lawn, one of the most recognized names in “the industry,” funeral and casket outlets are now coming to a mall near you.

In fact, Forest Lawn, known for hosting the final resting places of icons that include Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson, has been quietly placing movable kiosks in several of the malls around Southern California’s suburbs.

This move actually expands on a marketing innovation that appears to have begun at the dawn of the decade when a company called Til We Meet Again began opening casket stores around the country.

“We try to reach our audience where they are at and the mall is a great way to do that,” said Ben Sussman, spokesman for Forest Lawn.

“And it’s also, perhaps, a way to reach people who might be a little leery about coming directly into one of our parks,” Sussman said.

No word on when this retail concept will reach the DMV, but we’re sure this is something we won’t be rushing out to see.

So, how do you feel about having a casket outlet in your mall?

WHUR

WHUR 96.3 FM – Howard University is Washington’s only stand-alone radio station and one of the few university-owned commercial radio stations in America, broadcasting since 1971 to nearly a half million listeners daily in five states and can now be heard around the globe on the web at whur.com. The first radio station in the Washington area to broadcast in HD, WHUR is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious NAB Marconi for Best Urban Station of the Year and NAB Crystal Radio Award for Excellence in Community Service.